Ban HGVs during rush hour to boost cycle safety, says Peter John

Heavy goods vehicles should be banned from central London roads for two hours a day in a bid to cut the number of cyclists killed and injured, says the leader of Southwark Council.

"Between 8 and 9 in the morning, say, and 5 and 6 in the afternoon, no HGVs should travel through central London so cyclists know that they have a clear hour ... to get to and from work," Cllr Peter John told Iain Dale on LBC 97.3.

The Southwark Council leader's suggestion was prompted by the recent spate of fatal collisions involving cyclists on London's roads.

In SE1, a cyclist was injured at Bricklayers Arms gyratory on Wednesday.

Cllr John added: "We've got to do something to protect cyclists sooner rather than later."

Iain Dale put the Southwark leader's suggestion to Mayor of London Boris Johnson who said: "The difficulty is that you are imposing a very serious extra cost on business and one of the problems that we believe it would raise is that you would then have a massive surge of vehicles in the period in which they were then allowed to use the roads.

"In fact, we believe that the surge would be so great that any benefits from banning [lorries] in the peak would be cancelled out."

• The London Assembly's transport committee will discuss cycle safety in the capital at City Hall next month.